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Analyzing 'The Sandman': Creating Suspense and Fear Through Filmmaking Techniques

Explore how filmmakers use lighting, music, camera angles, and more to build tension and suspense in the media text 'The Sandman.' Analyze key scenes to understand the impact on audiences and the techniques employed. Dive into the characterizations, atmosphere creation, and the director's use of symbols and colors. Discover the transformation of a beloved character into a sinister figure and unravel the foreshadowing elements in the film.

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Analyzing 'The Sandman': Creating Suspense and Fear Through Filmmaking Techniques

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  1. Analysing a Media Text National 5

  2. Learning Intentions • To understand how to analyse key media techniques (lighting, music, camera angles/shots etc.) • To understand how the filmmakers use these techniques to create tension and suspense in a media text.

  3. Discuss with a partner the fears you had as a child when going to bed. Discuss: • What you found frightening and why • Why you had these fears • How these affected you

  4. Discuss how filmmakers create suspense/fear (e.g. setting, colours used, lighting, music, silence, camera shots/angles etc.) Use your film terminology sheet to help you with this. • Explain how fear/tension is created through these film techniques.

  5. Key Information • ‘The Sandman’ was released in 1992. • Employs the use of animation/puppets. • It took 3 years to make. • It was nominated for an Oscar in 1992 • Based on E.T.A Hoffmann’s novella ‘The Sandman.’ • Director/Animator: Paul Berry

  6. The Sandman is a fictional character, a popular figure in Western folklore who brings good sleep and dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto the eyes of children. Traditionally he is a character in many children's stories, invoked to help (or lull) children to sleep. He is said to sprinkle sand or dust on or into the eyes of the child at night to bring on dreams and sleep. The grit or 'sleep‘ in one's eyes upon waking is supposed to be the result of the Sandman's work the previous evening. You will now watch the short film ‘The Sandman.’ As you watch it, think about how the filmmakers create suspense/tension.

  7. E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote an inverse depiction of the lovable character in a story called Der Sandmann, which showed how sinister such a character could be. According to the protagonist's nurse, he threw sand in the eyes of children who wouldn't sleep, with the result of those eyes falling out and being collected by the Sandman, who then takes the eyes to his iron nest on the moon, and uses them to feed his children. Extract from Hoffmann’s ‘The Sandman’ ‘He is a wicked man, who comes to children when they won't go to bed, and throws a handful of sand into their eyes, so that they start bleeding from their heads. He puts their eyes in a bag and carries them to the crescent moon to feed his own children, who sit in the nest up there. They have crooked beaks like owls so that they can pick up the eyes of naughty human children.' This inversion of a kind, generous character to an evil monster is both unexpected and chilling.

  8. Foreshadowing – Title Sequence If needed, copy down the following definition: Foreshadowing is when a writer/filmmaker offers hints/clues that something is going to happen. Watch the opening titles of the film. How does the director use the title screen to convey threat/danger/suspense etc?

  9. Opening (Set Design, Symbolism of colours, music.) • How does Berry convey an atmosphere of warmth and safety in the opening of the film when the little boy is with his mother? (Look in particular at the contrast between the exterior and interior shot and explain why this has been used.) • Watch the opening of the film again and look at the colours used; body language of characters; music etc. Look at your film terminology handout to help you. INTERIOR SHOT OF LIVING ROOM EXTERIOR SHOT OF THE HOUSE

  10. Creation of Atmosphere (foreshadowing, symbolism etc.) • How does Berry use the recurring motif of the crescent moon/shape to convey danger/doom? Look also at the other techniques he uses here to build a ominous and tense atmosphere (e.g. close up shots and symbolism of clock) • Analyse the effect these have on the audience.

  11. Characterisation – Costume, Appearance and Body Language If needed, re-watch the boy’s journey to his room. • Explain how the director conveys the boy’s vulnerability (e.g. through the use of costume, facial expressions, frequent close ups/extreme close ups on face/eyes and body language etc.) Explain the emotions/thoughts this invokes in the audience. • Analyse the contrast in The Sandman’s appearance (costume, facial expressions, body posture etc.) Explain how the filmmakers have established him as the villain and how this impacts on the creation of atmosphere/tension etc.

  12. Creation of Atmosphere – Boy and Sandman’s journeys up the stairs Re-watch the two sequences where the characters travel up the staircase. • As you watch, look at the contrast in body language, facial expressions and the use of camera shots/angles, music, lighting etc. • Be prepared to analyse how the filmmakers use this contrast to establish atmosphere and establish the predatory nature of The Sandman and the timid, terrified prey-like demeanour of the child.

  13. Music/Sound Effects Listen again to the music used at key stages of the film and sum up how it is used to suggest safety, danger etc. • Think about the music which accompanies the two characters; the filmmakers’ matching of the characters’ movements to the soundtrack: predator versus prey etc. • Analyse the effect this has on the audience’s perception of the characters and how it is used to create tension/atmosphere etc.

  14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxlJxDr26mM&feature=related • Watch the clip of F.W Murnau’s 1922 film ‘Nosferatu.’ • Explain why Berry uses aspects/allusions to the film/vampire character (e.g. impact on audience/ creation of atmosphere/ tension etc.)

  15. Camera Shot: Dolly Zoom or The Vertigo Effect Named after Hitchcock’s 1958 film ‘Vertigo.’ This is where the camera zooms in on the subject while physically moving away. • Sum up how this is used in both ‘Vertigo’ and ‘The Sandman’ and explain why this is an effective shot (e.g. in revealing characters’ emotions/fears/anxieties etc.) • Analyse how it helps create a tense mood/atmosphere. Analyse the thoughts/emotions this evokes in the audience (e.g. our perception of boy’s safety etc.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je0NhvAQ6fM

  16. Set Design – The Boy’s Bedroom • How do the filmmakers make the boy’s bedroom seem threatening/sinister and why do they do this? Look at camera shots, colours used, textures, sharp angles of furniture, size of furniture in comparison to the little boy etc. to help you.)

  17. Creating Tension – Camera Shots • For each of the following six shots, write down the camera shot/angle used and explain fully what it conveys (e.g. boy’s fears/emotions etc.) • Analyse this series of shots and explain how the director deliberately increases tension/suspense here. This will help prepare you for the group task which will follow.

  18. Creating Tension – Camera Shots

  19. Group Work (Characterisation –Camera Shots) • In your groups, look at the shot you have been allocated. • Describe fully what you see and explain how it conveys the child’s emotions. • Analyse the use of camera shot/angle and how it is used to enhance the tension of the scene etc. • You will present your views/analysis to the rest of the class who will take notes to help them prepare for the essay.

  20. Climax of the film • Watch the ending of the film. Analyse and explain how the filmmakers create a tense and thrilling climax to The Sandman myth. Look at camera shots, colour, editing between shots of boy sitting up and Sandman opening bag in nest etc. to help you.

  21. Purpose In your pairs, discuss the following: • What is achieved by inverting the original Sandman myth? • Why do you think Hoffman/filmmakers chose to invert this classic tale?

  22. Critical Reading Section 1PART D – FILM AND TV DRAMA Choose a film or TV drama which creates a specific atmosphere or atmospheres. By referring to appropriate techniques, explain how the film or television makers have created this atmosphere.

  23. Critical Reading Section 1PART D – FILM AND TV DRAMA Choose a film or TV drama which belongs to a particular genre (e.g. crime, adventure, thriller…) By referring to appropriate techniques, explain how the film or television makers have used features of the genre effectively.

  24. Paul Berry’s short puppet-animation, ‘The Sandman’, which was released in 1992, creates a very tense and ominous atmosphere throughout. The original Sandman was thought of as being a mythical creature that visited children in their sleep and sprinkled magic dust in their eyes, granting them good dreams. However, as time went by, it was inevitable that someone would start to question and manipulate the Sandman’s intended original purpose. E.T.A Hoffman, a German author, played with the idea that the Sandman was actually an evil character who would come and tear the eyes out of restless children at bed time. Berry creates a nightmarish visual interpretation of Hoffman’s version in order to reveal the cruelty humans are capable of and show how terrifying our imaginations can be.

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